Not only are tourists visiting the Route 66 desert town of Kingman, Ariz., but many of them are staying — for good, the Kingman Daily Miner reports.
According to the story, mailings of tourism packets have nearly doubled in a year. Motel taxes are on track to easily beat the previous record. Hits on Kingman’s tourism Web site, www.kingmantourism.org, have doubled in two years.
“Growth and tourism go hand-in-hand,” said Staca Hiatt, director of tourism for the Kingman Area Chamber of Commerce. “We get a lot of people who stop in as tourists, love the area and decide they want to live here.” …
“We are attracting a different type of tourist at the moment,” Hiatt said. “They are still visitors, but they are coming to check out our town and its real estate and are not the same as those on vacation.”
As for Route 66 tourism, it’s seeing a boost, too.
Shannon Rossiter, director of the Route 66 Museum and Mohave Museum of History & Arts, reported steadily increasing traffic at both museums.
“Growth is good. It’s great for us,” Rossiter said. “It’s picked up at least 5 percent a year. We’ve done much better.”
In August 2005, which Rossiter said was a typical month, 1,340 people visited the Mohave Museum of History & Arts, compared with 1,061 during the same month two years before.
“It’s a great place to stop in the middle,” Rossiter said. “As you see an increase in tourism, especially to the Grand Canyon, we get the residue from that.”
Route 66 tourism dropped sharply across the road after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks. This is yet another sign that it has recovered.